LANSING -- The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a request with a federal judge on Thursday to force the state to recognize 300 marriages performed in the hours after the state's same-sex marriage ban was temporarily struck down.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled the state's ban was unconstitutional in a suit brought against the state by April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, a Hazel Park couple who sued to be allowed to adopt each other's children.

County clerks in several counties opened their offices on March 22 and issued marriage licenses before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the ruling that evening.

Gov. Rick Snyder said on March 26 that the marriages performed in that window were valid, but that the state would not recognize them until the court case was settled, a move the ACLU argues violates the civil rights of those couples.

"To be clear, now that the district court’s decision in DeBoer has been stayed, Michigan is not obligated to license or recognize any new marriages of same-sex couples. But under basic principles of due process, Michigan may not “suspend” Plaintiffs’ already existing marriages that were legal and recognized in this state when entered into," the ACLU's legal team argues in a motion for a preliminary injunction filed Thursday.

The eight couples represented by the ACLU had already filed a lawsuit challenging the state's decision not to recognize the marriages, but Thursday's request cites a similar case in Utah where marriages performed while that state's ban was lifted were considered valid. That ruling came down last week, sparking the injunction request here.

“At the heart of this case is the fundamental right of lawfully married couples to enjoy the benefits of marriage,” Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan’s LGBT Project, said in a statement. “The state cannot strip a married couple of recognition after it issues a valid marriage license.”

The couples say in the request that unless the state is forced to recognize their marriages, they are unable to purchase family health insurance from employers, receive spousal pension benefits or legally adopt children.

Attorneys for the state have not yet responded to the injunction request.